I did something unusual on a Saturday Morning. I walked Main Street in Sarasota (that’s not unusual) with another photographer (that is unusual). Deirdre, in the local camera club, has been anxious to accompany me while photographing strangers, so this was the day. After meeting and photographing a few, we worked our way to my favorite coffee shop. The coffee is fine, but the light in front of the store is usually exquisite.

We met a couple, introduced ourselves, and went to work. As I photographed the gentleman, I sensed someone behind me by a few paces. Tony was watching and listening, and his face screamed, “photograph me!!!”. I quickly finished with Matthew and turned my attention to Tony, who reminded me of the Carl Sandberg quote, “Often the faces speak what words can never say”.

(click to enlarge)

Tony said that he had seen a wall of a building in Naples FL that was covered with photographic portraits. I was more than surprised. Naples is an extremely affluent community over 100 miles away. And Tony had the unmistakable look of a homeless person. I told him that I had seen it, and turned back to Matthew and explained the project to him.

I found a news article about the project; see it HERE. The of the point of the project is apparent in a quote by the photographer, Michelle Tricca: "You look at this piece and you don't know who's the guy that owns the $16-billion dollar house on the beach and who's the guy that cleans his pool,". Good food for thought.

Anyway, after talking about this, Tony asked for a little financial help. This was inevitable. He had not seen his girlfriend since getting out of jail. I asked for no specifics.

Bob